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Had a chance to play hookie today and my LGS owner called me and said he had a S&W Model 19-4. Pinned Barrel, firing pin on the hammer, it had a ring on the cylinder, but appeared to be unfired. A box, but not THE box. Target hammer and trigger. The trigger on this revolver is a dream. A deep bluing as well. Like the title saysd, you can't not buy this gun. $650 out the door. Also, the final zero target with a few stragglers fired unsupported.

What say ye?

I had a similar 19-4 six inch with the partridge front sight. A better choice for PPC shooting. I bought it from another cop who said it was not accurate. I put a B-27 out at 25 yards and proceeded to put 24 rounds all in the X and 10 ring (Match #4).

Fast Eddie and Bosbar, you guys stole those guns!. Fantastic prices for some classic steel.

My first revolver bought by me was a M19-2 with a 6" barrel, back in 1978, looked just like OP's except no target hammer or trigger. Wish I still had it, traded a year later it for a M66-2 with a 4" barrel. I kept that for 30 years, then in a fit of stupidity sold it to a friend, who still has it. I've offered to buy it back at twice what he got it for, but he won't let go; he's smarter than I was. I finally found a replacement, a M19-3 with a 4" barrel, and it's a "3T" like the OP's. I gave quite a bit more for it than OP paid for his, though. No matter, I was going to have another older K-frame one way or another. I did get the original box with mine; I removed the grips in favor of smaller ones that fit my hand better, but I shoot it often.

It's named for E.E. Patridge, a 19th Century American sportsman who invented it. You see them mostly on 6" and longer revolver barrels rather than the shorter ones; mainly because long-barreled holsters generally enclose the muzzle and their is no front edge for the sight to hang up on when the gun is drawn. The ramped front sight won't hang up on an open-ended holster.

A true Patridge front sight is slightly undercut on its rear surface, to eliminate a vertical surface that might reflect light back at the eye.

Very nice fast eddie. That 6-inch barrel will milk about all the goodie out of the most excellent .357 Magnum cartridge.
A very late Model 19-4 nickel lives here. I really like N-Frame and K-Frame .357 Magnums and don't much care for L-Frame or J-Frame .357 Magnums.

It's named for E.E. Patridge, a 19th Century American sportsman who invented it. You see them mostly on 6" and longer revolver barrels rather than the shorter ones; mainly because long-barreled holsters generally enclose the muzzle and their is no front edge for the sight to hang up on when the gun is drawn. The ramped front sight won't hang up on an open-ended holster.

A true Patridge front sight is slightly undercut on its rear surface, to eliminate a vertical surface that might reflect light back at the eye.

Sad to say, I only own one Model 19, a -1 4" blue with non-relieved diamond center target stocks. It's used but beautiful and it lives in my safe.

I recently bought a 2.5" 66-3. I changed the springs in it, put some Ahrends on it, and shot a couple hundred rounds through it before the coronavirus shut down our local range. It's my new favorite handgun and it's guarding my tp stash right now.

I bought a 4" 66-4 (?, no lock but rounded rear sight tang) at our gun show the weekend before our local fearless leader got serious about the cv, but since they don't trust us I have to wait another week before I can start playing with it. I've got another spring kit and a set of Ahrends waiting to make friends with the newbie.

I'm glad to have these K frames. I've got a half dozen or so N frames but the Ks are so much easier to handle.

Do you have to be careful which cleaners you use on a nickle finish revolver? I seem to remember reading here a few years back that the nickle finish is not as robust as a blued finish when it come to cleaning. This might only apply to shooting cast lead bullets.

I've owned the nickel Smith & Wessons here for many years. I just clean 'em with Hoppe's No. 9, wipe 'em dry, and stow 'em away and always with perfect satisfaction.

Some three decades ago I owned a 1906 vintage Smith & Wesson K-Frame Hand Ejector .32-20 with a shabby nickel finish. In those years prior to the internet I had read of the horror stories of how Hoppe's would remove nickel finishes from guns. Unhappy with the nickel finish on the .32-20, I determined to remove it. So, I got a bread pan, placed the detail striped nickel components of the revolver in it, submerged it in Hoppe's, covered it in plastic wrap and expectantly left it to the side of the reloading bench ... for a week ... for many weeks ... for well over a month.

Nothin'!

No additional loosening around edges of flaking nickel. No degrading of remaining nickel surfaces. Later I read a contrary view that posited that it was an old wives' tale that Hoppe's No. 9 would degrade nickel. I think they were right.

Of course here in the age of the internet the proscription on use of Hoppe's No. 9 on nickel guns has been resurrected and amplified, endlessly repeated as gospel whether the poster has direct knowledge or not.

Doesn’t the m19 have a reputation if it’s shot a lot it will hammer itself apart?

I've read some about that, but have not seen firsthand the things that are said to happen. I will say, shooting magnum loads in one stings your hand worse than the same loads in an N frame gun. I know that back when revolvers were common service guns, our NC Highway Patrol carried Model 28's instead of 19's. I'd rather fire several .44 mags from a M29 than several from my M19, my hand doesn't hurt as bad afterwards. I'm talking like 4 or 5 cylinder loads. I think that if you do shoot magnum loads, it pays to frequently inspect the gun.

I've heard and read that firing lightweight bullet magnum loads (such as the 125 JHP's) can crack the forcing cone. Oddly, when I had a M66 many years ago, the magnum 125 grain was my favorite. I download my magnum handloads now, no need to push things. I try to run them around 1200 fpm, just a little hotter than a .38Spl +P, or just load .38 +P's.

Another thing I've read about shooting continuous magnum loads is flame cutting of the top strap at the cylinder-barrel gap at the rear edge of the forcing cone. Some of this has to do with just how tight the gap is on a given pistol. My M19 is a Dash-3, I've had it about 5 years, and whoever had it before me took very good care of it, but if I inspect it closely with a strong magnifier, I can see a fine line under the top strap where it has flame cut it. It's nothing that would make me fear shooting the gun, but it is there, so I figure my revolver has had quite a bit of use. The action is glass smooth, either through use or an action job. I think the M19/66 is the most beautiful revolver that S&W ever made, and I'd love to have an early one in every barrel length and finish.

I've heard and read that firing lightweight bullet magnum loads (such as the 125 JHP's) can crack the forcing cone. Oddly, when I had a M66 many years ago, the magnum 125 grain was my favorite. I download my magnum handloads now, no need to push things. I try to run them around 1200 fpm, just a little hotter than a .38Spl +P, or just load .38 +P's.

I've read the same thing from several sources. They are far more lightly built than an N-Frame but there is another thing. Stainless alloys are going to have a different stress and fatigue cycles than the carbon steel and perhaps the later -66 is more resistant to the forcing cone cracking.

I'd like to have the pinned and recessed -19's too but I'm happy with the -66...

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